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Compost or Get Off the Pot -- Letter to the Editor published in February 2012

Sun, 09/30/2012 - 08:23 — Timothy Gray

Letter to the Editor written in February 2012 and published in three local papers:

Now that Measure E has opened the door to using 10 acres of park land for a Compost Facility, residents must watch the City's actions closely to make sure that a decision is made quickly, and if the real financial merit of the plant is not feasible -- make sure that the park land is rededicated.

All concerned residents must insist that our leaders respond to the following questions:

1. How do we make sure that the "Cost" (market value) of the ten acres of real estate is fully accounted for in any financial feasibility study?

2. How do we assure that there is absolute integrity in all the assumptions used to evaluate the project (real financial merit vs. pipe dreams)?

3. How do we keep study costs to a minimum (i.e. if it is clear that the anaerobic digester does not meet financial return goals, stop the detailed study and return the park land)?

Without this scrutiny, we will spend money and delay a precious park resource without delivering any value.
Watchdog efforts like these are bad news for those hoping that there might be a loophole to convert the land to another purpose once the memory of implied promises have faded.

That promise: The City will provide an innovative Composting plant that returns a positive financial return (including the market value of the land) or return it to park land and proceed with the long-delayed recreational vision for our water-front. Got accountability? Compost or get off the pot.

Timothy Gray

(Tim's note: September 2012 -- Nothing has happened and there is more and more information that indicates that there was never a real chance of this technology delivering on the promise, and strong indications that it was sold to the public to feel good about caring for the planet, but that it has no real basis is the practical world. We all want to be green, however, we really must deliver the promise of the project or get the land returned to the Parklands. We really have to Compost or get off the pot!)

Anything less than a speedy and efficient evaluation is simply a manipulation. Let's let the number reveal the truth!